Dale will meet another new referee on Tuesday when Will Finnie takes charge of their long trip to Plymouth Argyle.

The Luton-based official is in his second season on the National List and has so far avoided being appointed to any of our games.

However, he did referee three Plymouth matches last term, including their home fixtures versus Oldham and Cambridge.

Promoted from the National League at the end of the 2018/19 campaign, Will began his EFL life at Scunthorpe v Swindon in August 2019.

He continued to referee throughout League One and League Two last season, as well as in the EFL Trophy and FA Cup, with his 27 matches seeing 102 yellow cards and three reds.

Before Saturday, when he was due to referee Portsmouth v Kings Lynn in the FA Cup, Will had overseen 12 games (37 yellow cards, two reds) this season, with his most recent league appointment being Stevenage v BBC Radio Bolton Wanderers FC ten days ago.

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